Game With A Mean Storyteller/05 Jun 2011
(6:55:20 PM) Remmon: More kicking of TS3 is required. I broke my install. (6:59:23 PM) xp194 is now known as Silk (7:00:04 PM) AnnoDomini is now known as Birds (7:03:13 PM) Maze is now known as Shield (7:03:22 PM) ***Birds goes get some provisions. (7:04:25 PM) Crowns: Last time, Wallport was invaded, and nobody fixed it fast enough before we went to help fix it. (7:04:39 PM) Schleiermacher Schleiermac@D553D1.93D8F9.67CAB1.A25871 entered the room. (7:04:39 PM) Remmon: Which means Wallport is soon to be completely destroyed. (7:06:03 PM) ***Silk prods EvilDarkLord (7:06:11 PM) Remmon: Everyone ready? (7:06:18 PM) SilentWillow: yep (7:06:30 PM) Shield: Yes. (7:06:37 PM) Silk: I'm ready, y'all ready? (7:06:42 PM) Crowns: Yes. (7:06:45 PM) Birds: (Uhuh. It's not like I'm in the center of attention ATM, so start. I need more food.) (7:07:49 PM) Remmon: Right. Last time, Willow and Crowns were infiltrating the city. (7:08:04 PM) Remmon: They had successfully gotten over the wall and were now somewhere inside the city (7:09:29 PM) ***Crowns has Flawless Impenetrable Disguise up to look like he's native here, stacked with Easily Overlooked Presence Technique so that he'll be overlooked unless he seems out of place. (7:09:40 PM) Crowns: We were going to go and check out city hall. (7:10:06 PM) Crowns: Let's do that. Is it a burnt-out shell? (7:12:20 PM) Remmon: No, the city hall is surprisingly undamaged on the outside. There's also a circle of undead, most warghosts, guarding the outside. (7:12:29 PM) Remmon: You don't see any living beings from your vantage point. (7:13:56 PM) ***Crowns considers the feasibility of disguising himself as a warghost. (7:14:07 PM) ***Crowns wonders if he'd have to find an actual warghost to beat up and steal the identity of. (7:14:21 PM) Crowns: Do the warghosts have anything vaguely resembling identifying features? (7:14:54 PM) Birds: (Identify them by their death wounds.) (7:15:37 PM) ***Silk is hoping that the Guard Captain and his daughter that they'd rescued a few months beforehand got out okay. Otherwise the whole episode would've been rather pointless. (7:16:05 PM) Remmon: Warghosts look a lot like humans, only more ghostly. One majorly different part is of course the fact that all of them have the injuries that brought them into the realm of the dead (7:18:08 PM) Crowns: Right. Thinking... (7:18:37 PM) ***SilentWillow tries to sneak closer, using 5 motes on 1st Stealth Excellency (7:18:48 PM) Remmon: Roll it. (7:18:51 PM) SilentWillow: !exalted14 (7:19:19 PM) Crowns: !exalted 14 (7:19:20 PM) PainBot: Crowns rolled (3 4 6 7 7 1 1 3 1 10 3 3 3 2). Successes (TN 7) = 4. (7:19:26 PM) Crowns: (Use the space.) (7:20:16 PM) Remmon: !exalted 4: Notice Willow (7:20:17 PM) PainBot: Remmon rolled "Notice Willow": (1 8 5 1). Successes (TN 7) = 1. (7:20:17 PM) SilentWillow: (Thanks) (7:20:23 PM) Remmon: You sneak closer unnoticed. (7:20:42 PM) SilentWillow: Do I see anything new? (7:21:53 PM) Remmon: Not unless you want try to sneak in. (7:22:42 PM) SilentWillow: I could. Unless Crowns would like a distraction (7:23:05 PM) Remmon: I should note that the doors and windows are closed. (7:23:20 PM) Remmon: Sneaking in will require either waiting for someone to open them, or opening them yourself. (7:24:16 PM) SilentWillow: I lurk out of sight and observe for a while (7:24:39 PM) Crowns: I'll lurk on the other side so we can get an overview of all comings and goings there. (7:27:04 PM) Crowns: (Let's wait for at least two hours and see if anyone important moves in or out.) (7:28:14 PM) Remmon: During those 2 hours, the only one of importance you see is Violet, behind the windows of the first floor, presumably the governor's office. (7:28:41 PM) Birds: (Quick, assassinate!) (7:28:59 PM) Crowns: (Throw rocks at her!) (7:29:00 PM) SilentWillow: (Shall we?) (7:29:02 PM) Remmon: (Yes, make an unexpected attack against someone with a perfect soak) (7:29:03 PM) Silk: Step 1: Find Bear. (7:29:15 PM) Silk: Steao 2: subdue bear (7:29:17 PM) Silk: *Step (7:29:26 PM) Silk: step 3: Throw bear at Violet (7:29:30 PM) Silk: Step 4: ???? (7:29:37 PM) Silk: Step 5: Profit. (7:30:00 PM) ***Crowns rejoins Willow to plan. "Seems like there's only Violet running this. I don't think we need to mess with her just yet. Shall we see about assassinating ghosts all over town until she's chasing back and forth looking for us?" (7:31:21 PM) ***SilentWillow nods. "But we should probably see how many she has here. There's going to be a battle whatever we do, so we need to know what we'll be fighting." (7:32:11 PM) Crowns: "Right. I'll head to the west side, you head to the east side. We'll spend about ten minutes watching and counting ghosts, then start hitting and running, moving around clockwise. Even Violet can't be in two places at once. Whenever she shows up, hide again." (7:32:16 PM) Crowns: "Sound good?" (7:32:28 PM) ***SilentWillow nods (7:33:09 PM) ***Crowns heads off west (7:33:53 PM) ***SilentWillow heads iff east (7:34:49 PM) ***Crowns continues crouching over, fleeing around, looking about for ghosts and then scurrying off again. (7:35:29 PM) Remmon: Crowns, Willow, you each count about 400 ghosts in the streets as you move around, another few hundred on the walls. (7:36:26 PM) Crowns: All right. I'll start looking for leader and/or small patrols that I can remove entirely before they can put up too much of an alarm. (7:36:58 PM) SilentWillow: I start looking for leaders too (7:37:12 PM) Remmon: There are 3 to 5 ghost patrols on the streets. You can hit those fairly easily when they're out of sight of eachother. (7:38:01 PM) Silk: Crowns: Channel Altair/Ezio :-p (7:39:57 PM) Crowns: My general plan: Get near a group unnoticed. Flurry drawing hookklave and hitting one. Use Striking Cobra Technique to win Join Battle. Hit the other two before they can act. Do you want me to roll for combat, or is this sufficient against a common patrol? (7:42:33 PM) Remmon: Hmm (7:42:41 PM) Remmon: What's your combat pool? (7:43:11 PM) Remmon: attack pool (7:43:45 PM) Crowns: 13 dice to hit, damage +7L. (7:44:06 PM) Remmon: Yeah, no need to roll that then. They're screwed. (7:44:16 PM) Remmon: Willow, your plan? (7:45:17 PM) SilentWillow: pretty much the same, except draw everybody to the location by using Dazzling Flare. But by the time I get there, I'm gone (7:46:08 PM) SilentWillow: 15 dice to hit, 11A/8L, piercing (7:49:08 PM) Remmon: You're plenty lethal too to take out patrols. (7:52:13 PM) SilentWillow: Only using one Dazzling Flare per partol (7:52:23 PM) Crowns: So who does Violet go for first? Or is she filing this under "acceptable losses"? :P (7:54:13 PM) Remmon: You get a few patrols each before the patrols start becoming substantially more dense. It's now almost impossible to get a patrol in a position where they can't be seen be at least one other. (7:56:02 PM) Crowns: OK. I'll start lurking on rooftops, throwing surprise chakrams at anyone who looks like a leader, and then bounding off several houses away to hide again. (7:56:33 PM) Remmon: Willow? (7:57:59 PM) SilentWillow: Dazzling flare from the rooftops, then Invisible Statue Spirit until backup arrives, then fire a couple of normal shots before jumping away (8:01:20 PM) Remmon: Right. Soon the patrols seem to disappear. Perception+occult please. (8:01:38 PM) SilentWillow: !exalted 5 (8:01:38 PM) PainBot: SilentWillow rolled (6 5 1 4 4). Successes (TN 7) = 0. (8:02:05 PM) Remmon: Willow, that's odd... After your next attack, all the patrols seem to have disappeared. (8:05:35 PM) Crowns: If this means Willow stops with the flares, I'm going to take it as a sign that she's done, change my disguise to someone that hasn't been potshotting ghosts, and head back to the previous lurking spot near city hall to rendezvous with her. (8:05:57 PM) SilentWillow: I do likewis (8:06:00 PM) Remmon: Crowns, roll Perception + Occult? (8:06:09 PM) Crowns: !exalted 5 (8:06:10 PM) PainBot: Crowns rolled (10 5 6 3 1). Successes (TN 7) = 2. (8:06:37 PM) Remmon: You realise that the patrols have gone incorporeal near you as well, but you cannot pinpoint their exact locations. (8:07:05 PM) Remmon: Willow, dex+stealth? (8:07:19 PM) SilentWillow: !exalted 9 (8:07:19 PM) PainBot: SilentWillow rolled (2 2 10 7 5 8 4 1 3). Successes (TN 7) = 4. (8:07:31 PM) Crowns: In that case it's definitely time to backtrack, go somewhere that hasn't been a sniping position, and change my disguise before they start sneak attacking me while I'm distracted. (8:07:38 PM) Remmon: At least you're stealthy, Willow. (8:10:05 PM) Crowns: (Do we manage to meet up again?) (8:10:18 PM) Remmon: Yes, you do. (8:10:34 PM) Crowns: "Well. I think we've cut into their numbers and put them on the defensive." (8:10:36 PM) Remmon: The guards there are invisible as well. (8:11:03 PM) Remmon: Violet exits the city hall, clad in full armour. (8:11:19 PM) Crowns: "And there goes Violet. Seems like about time for us to get out of here." (8:11:20 PM) Remmon: She's followed by a large unit of warghosts. (8:12:20 PM) SilentWillow: "Let's go." (8:12:55 PM) ***Crowns heads back to wall, picks up Willow again, and leaps over before running back to the camp at full tilt. (8:14:34 PM) Remmon: You escape the city unharmed. (8:14:45 PM) Silk: "So... what do you think our odds are?" (8:14:56 PM) ***Crowns looks back over his shoulder. Is Violet exiting the city? (8:15:01 PM) ***Silk is addressing Birds and Shield (8:16:13 PM) Remmon: She is not chasing you, Crowns. (8:16:30 PM) ***Crowns continues fleeing anyway. (8:18:06 PM) Remmon: Were the others still waiting in the vicinity? (8:19:28 PM) Shield: I doubt it. (8:19:38 PM) Remmon: Birds? (8:19:52 PM) Shield: "Depends on the objective. Wallport seems to be close to being destroyed completely." (8:20:20 PM) Shield: "Odds of killing Violet are slim, since she's a coward and a good one at that." (8:20:27 PM) Birds: (AFAIK, I only stormwinded Crowns and Willow.) (8:20:41 PM) Silk: "... Goddammit... First town we actually help and this happens to it..." (8:20:57 PM) Crowns: (Well, at least we have someone to report to.) (8:21:12 PM) Shield: "Can't really be helped, it was basically destroyed before we had a chance to do anything." (8:21:32 PM) Birds: (Also AFAIK, I'm all alone, traveling back and forth about a day from Wallport.) (8:22:10 PM) Crowns: (That far? OK, forget the running, I'll just head that way at a reasonable pace. Willow too?) (8:22:29 PM) Silk: "... Really start to wonder if it's worth it. Build something and someone just comes and knocks it down again..." (8:22:31 PM) ***Silk sighs (8:27:00 PM) Remmon: Crowns, Birds and Willow meet up, a day or so from Wallport. (8:27:17 PM) Crowns: "Good to see you, Birds. Has anyone come this way?" (8:27:40 PM) Remmon: (Nope) (8:28:18 PM) Birds: "Nope. How was Wallport?" (8:28:30 PM) Crowns: "Full of about a thousand ghosts trying to keep it orderly." (8:28:41 PM) Crowns: "We sort of changed that plan." (8:28:55 PM) Shield: "You know, the only people who keep causing trouble around us are all servants of the same guy." (8:29:38 PM) Shield: "Maybe we ought to arm up and go wreck his place." (8:29:55 PM) Birds: "So, what's next? Going back to the army or just chilling here and waiting for them to come to us?" (8:30:31 PM) Silk: "A being with doubtless leaders of undead, probably a few Abyssals more than we've seen, centuries of experience..." (8:30:45 PM) Silk: "Yeh. Sounds like a cakewalk." (8:30:54 PM) Crowns: "Go back and report. Whitewall and Shield will appreciate the fresh intelligence. Maybe one of them will have a better plan." (8:30:57 PM) Shield: "And the only really competent one of them keeps chasing us around." (8:31:05 PM) Crowns: "Right now Violet is apparently patrolling the city in person, so we bugged out." (8:31:30 PM) Silk: "Doesn't mean the others won't step in if we bash down their door." (8:31:36 PM) Shield: "It's harder to be on the defensive. If we figure out what he wants, we can hit that until he lays off." (8:31:58 PM) Birds: "Alright. Please stand by for your irregularly scheduled stormwind." (8:32:17 PM) Shield: "Or dies. I'd be cool with him dying too." (8:32:27 PM) ***Birds summons the winds to ferry all three of them back to the approaching army. (8:32:39 PM) ***Crowns pokes SilentWillow. Want a word in edgewise? (8:33:28 PM) Silk: "... He wants Birds. Or, well, her Exaltation. If we were so minded, we could hand her over to the Prince and he'd probably leave us alone. Though, personally I'd rather die than just hand a friend over like that." (8:33:29 PM) Birds: (Down 30m. Flaring at 15m.) (8:34:15 PM) Remmon: A few hours later, you reach the main army, still marching. (8:34:16 PM) SilentWillow: "No. I think going back to Shield and Silk is the right plan." (8:35:00 PM) Shield: "Birds betrayed him. He must want other things as well beside revenge." (8:36:07 PM) ***Birds puts everyone down nearby on the road, then proceeds to Shield and Silk. (8:36:20 PM) Silk: "... I'd love to feel we're capable of putting and end to this, but short of gathering /big/ forces, I can't really think of anything. Well. Maybe spending a few hundred years training would help..." (8:37:06 PM) Birds: "Hello, people." (8:37:14 PM) Silk: "Oh. Hey Birds." (8:38:24 PM) Crowns: "For those who hadn't guessed it: Violet is in Wallport." (8:38:39 PM) Silk: "Any survivors?" (8:38:46 PM) Crowns: "Yes." (8:39:10 PM) ***Silk exhales "well, that's a relief, at least." (8:39:17 PM) Crowns: "She's trying to occupy the city. Maybe she wants hostages, maybe she's going to sell everyone as slaves, I don't know." (8:40:10 PM) Silk: "... We need to get them out of there..." (8:40:25 PM) Shield: "That could be one function of them. A lure." (8:41:52 PM) Shield: "Any other information?" (8:41:59 PM) Crowns: "We spent some time in Wallport shooting ghosts who happened to materialize." (8:42:21 PM) Crowns: "When we left, most of them were dematerialized and the others were all thronging around Violet, so they're in at least moderate disarray." (8:44:24 PM) Birds: "The Dragon-Blooded inflitrators are probably going to continue messing stuff up too." (8:44:57 PM) Silk: "Do they know we're coming?" (8:45:16 PM) Shield: "Any serious commanders aside from Violet?" (8:45:31 PM) Crowns: "No." (8:45:41 PM) Crowns: "Maybe some experienced ghosts, but there were no other deathknights about." (8:46:22 PM) Birds: "Then it remains for us to show up and kick her shit in." (8:47:23 PM) Crowns: "Might work. How much support is Whitewall sending?" (8:47:35 PM) Shield: "Yes. Aside from that, I was thinking of contingency plans." (8:47:43 PM) Crowns: "And has anyone other than Whitewall raised an army?" (8:48:13 PM) Birds: "I doubt." (8:48:19 PM) Shield: "Birds, what does the Silver Prince want apart from taking revenge against you?" (8:48:27 PM) Birds: "My shard." (8:48:41 PM) Shield: "Yes, but something that doesn't revolve around you." (8:49:31 PM) Silk: "Dumping all Creation into Oblivion?" (8:49:34 PM) Birds: "You mean aside from ruling everything and fulfilling the will of the Neverborn?" (8:49:37 PM) Shield: "I hate being on the defensive. If we end up with another half-victory or half-defeat, I think we should consider other methods of hurting him than confronting Violet constantly." (8:50:07 PM) Shield: "Yes, yes, that's his ultimate goal. But he's just one twisted man. What does he want in the meantime? Anything specific?" (8:50:40 PM) Birds: "He's slowly taking over the West through subterfuge. I don't know his personal goals." (8:50:57 PM) Shield: "What does he control in the West at this time?" (8:51:22 PM) Shield: "Any obvious strongholds we can hit while Violet is faffing around looking for you?" (8:51:41 PM) Birds: "He controls the Skullstone Archipelago." (8:52:04 PM) Crowns: "Any way we can sink bits of it?" (8:52:05 PM) Shield: "With a personal presence?" (8:52:28 PM) Birds: "Yep. He's got a castle on Darkmist Isle." (8:53:10 PM) Shield: "Remind me, who can use stormwinds after our training in the city? Just you, Birds?" (8:53:38 PM) Birds: "Nobody was interested in learning that from me during these past months." (8:54:32 PM) Shield: "How fast can you teach them?" (8:54:54 PM) Birds: "Them?" (8:55:00 PM) Shield: "Well, Crowns." (8:55:13 PM) Shield: "Unless someone else picked up sorcery while I wasn't looking." (8:55:25 PM) Birds: "A week." (8:55:41 PM) Crowns: "Speaking of which, are there any useful demons we can summon that will harass the ghosts while we're away?" (8:56:08 PM) Shield: "Were you able to summon second circle ones yet, Birds?" (8:56:47 PM) Birds: "I can summon Second Circle Demons." (8:57:21 PM) Shield: "And when can you do that next? They had rules about this kind of thing, didn't they?" (8:57:22 PM) Birds: !exalted 10 7 1 5: IntOcc. Demons with ghost-harrassing powers? (8:57:23 PM) PainBot: Birds rolled "IntOcc. Demons with ghost-harrassing powers?": (2 6 9 2 4 8 5 3 5 10). Successes (TN 7) +5 = 9. (8:58:23 PM) Birds: "Summoning Second Circle Demons can only be held during the full moon or during Calibration." (8:58:38 PM) Shield: (Is the full moon conveniently Soon™?) (8:59:03 PM) Silk: ((If so, hide me. D: )) (8:59:22 PM) Shield: ((Getting close to limit 10, huh?)) (8:59:28 PM) Silk: (( 7/10. )) (8:59:35 PM) Remmon: (9 days to full moon) (8:59:49 PM) Silk: ((That said, I suppose it'd be better to trigger it somewhat controlably.)) (8:59:57 PM) Silk: ((Instead of mid combat or something.)) (9:00:06 PM) Crowns: ((During that time, we can also bring up Sesseljae again.)) (9:00:27 PM) Crowns: "About a week... I take it Whitewall remains as safe as ever?" (9:01:22 PM) Birds: "I know no changes in the situation." (9:03:34 PM) SilentWillow: "What about Wallport?" (9:04:08 PM) Crowns: "It's fallen. I wish I knew what Violet was planning there." (9:04:42 PM) Crowns: "But I think Shield is right - if Whitewall is safe, we might want to go on the offensive and force what's-his-death to recall Violet." (9:04:54 PM) Shield: "How many survivors? Few enough that Birds could evacuate them with the army-sized stormwind?" (9:05:26 PM) Birds: "I can take a few hundred people, maximum." (9:06:09 PM) Shield: "Do you have sufficient control that you can just swoop into the city and pick up anyone on the path immediately, then continue on?" (9:06:47 PM) Remmon: Right, that's quite a list of anti-ghost 2nd circle demons Crowns listed. (9:07:23 PM) Birds: "Probably. But I doubt there are so few left." (9:07:44 PM) Birds: "Crowns and Willow don't seem quite horrified enough for a genocide to have happened." (9:08:18 PM) Silk: "That or they're remarkably desensitised..." (9:08:40 PM) Crowns: "No, no genocide, unless Violet is suddenly paying a great deal of attention to cleaning and sprucing everything up afterwards to remove all traces." (9:09:01 PM) Silk: Could we make several runs at it? (9:09:05 PM) Silk: + " " (9:09:20 PM) Shield: "Probably, if Violet was distracted by something." (9:09:49 PM) Shield: "Unfortunately, the really obvious distraction is also in charge of our stormwinding." (9:09:53 PM) Remmon: (There are 2 problems with this plan. Firstly there are the walls, which are afaik too high to stormwind over. Secondly, everyone is inside at the moment. You will need to get them out first.) (9:10:21 PM) Shield: (Why the second? We could just zoom along streets a lot.) (9:10:25 PM) Silk: (Stormwind the buildings. Re-enact the Wizard of Oz.) (9:10:32 PM) Shield: (Genius!) (9:10:43 PM) Silk: (Anyone got any red shoes on? :-p ) (9:11:02 PM) Silk: (We /may/ have to drop a farmhouse on you) (9:11:05 PM) Crowns: "Willow had some very distracting arrows." (9:11:17 PM) Shield: (As to the first, that's why TUCS made daiklaves.) (9:12:15 PM) Birds: "Let me just say that I am against any plan that relies on Violet acting out of character - that is, being stupid and unpragmatic." (9:15:21 PM) Shield: "No plan survives contact with an Abyssal. Well-known fact." (9:15:47 PM) Birds: "Precisely. I'd rather not place the lives of untold civilians on such a plan." (9:16:28 PM) Shield: "That aside, though, a plan is better than no plan. It seems likely that unless we act a lot of those civvies are going to be worse off for it." (9:16:30 PM) ***Crowns grumbles, wishes again that he had more clue what Violet's plans are. (9:16:51 PM) Shield: "Say, I don't suppose any of you know any divinatory magics?" (9:17:09 PM) Crowns: "No, but someone in Whitewall probably does." (9:17:28 PM) Crowns: "If it were that easy, though, Violet probably has obfuscatory magics." (9:17:29 PM) ***SilentWillow whispers, "The harbour." (9:17:44 PM) Silk: "... What was that?" (9:17:45 PM) Shield: "What's that, Willow?" (9:18:14 PM) ***SilentWillow suddenly looks uncomfortable as everyone turns to look at her (9:18:35 PM) ***Shield looms! (9:18:40 PM) ***Crowns fates! (9:18:55 PM) ***SilentWillow shrinks back slightly. "The Silver Prince controls a navy? And we only saw one Deathknight" (9:19:12 PM) Silk: "..." (9:19:28 PM) Crowns: "You think he's going to use Wallport as a staging area for an invasion?" (9:19:43 PM) Crowns: "That would explain keeping the civilians for menial labor, at least." (9:19:49 PM) ***Silk puts a companionable hand on Willow's shoulder "It's okay. We're not going to eat you..." (9:20:01 PM) Birds: "Not if we take it back." (9:20:39 PM) Birds: "I like the military plan, because it is extremely simple. The only way to fuck it up is to lose the battle." (9:20:49 PM) ***SilentWillow Nods. And if Violet knows that Birds has help, why would she come on her own? There must be more Deathknights waiting out at sea where we can't get to them." (9:21:15 PM) Silk: "You do realise that now you've said that, we probably will lose, right?" (9:21:20 PM) Shield: "Or have her turn on the civilians suddenly in response. But that's probably a risk either way. What's the size of her army?" (9:21:50 PM) Birds: Silk: "That only applies to mortals." (9:21:54 PM) Shield: Remmon: How many competent DBs did we have along who can do the commander thing? (9:22:11 PM) Remmon: You've got about 12 DBs (9:22:14 PM) Crowns: "About a thousand ghosts." (9:22:30 PM) Silk: "If you say so." (9:22:56 PM) Silk: "Either way, we /should/ be preparing for the worst as well." (9:23:04 PM) Birds: "We outrank the God of Things That Go Wrong Because They Can Go Wrong. If he meddles, we file a complaint in the Celestial Bureaucracy." (9:23:20 PM) Shield: "Or kill his ass and requisition a new god." (9:23:39 PM) ***Shield is feeling rather murderous today. (9:23:41 PM) Silk: "Oh sure. Want to go knocking on Yu-Shan's door?" (9:24:10 PM) SilentWillow: "What if Crowns and I go in ahead of the army? I can set fire to the ships before they can dock." (9:25:23 PM) Shield: "Were the ships at the dock occupied when you were there?" (9:25:43 PM) Shield: "Or even guarded particularly well?" (9:25:54 PM) Shield: "They could serve as an escape option for the civilians, possibly." (9:26:01 PM) Birds: "If you want to fuck ships up, I can try to teach Crowns Magma Kraken. It'll take only a few months." (9:26:19 PM) Crowns: "That would be very interesting." (9:28:32 PM) Birds: "But never mind that. I think it's a sound plan to take out their navy while the rest of us battle the army." (9:30:56 PM) Crowns: "What's a good tool for holing a ship if I want less attention than setting it on fire?" (9:31:26 PM) Silk: "Hand drill?" (9:31:49 PM) Birds: "Don't you have any artifact weapons?" (9:32:13 PM) Birds: "Underwater, I doubt you'd need much stealth." (9:32:26 PM) Shield: "You can just set them on fire." (9:32:28 PM) Silk: ((Thinking something like this'd happen: http://xkcd.com/905/ )) (9:32:44 PM) Shield: "All you need for that is fire and, optionally, oil." (9:32:53 PM) Shield: "Very distracting." (9:33:03 PM) Shield: (And it pleases the ST.) (9:33:42 PM) Crowns: "Fine. Now I wish I had picked up more firedust in Paragon or somewhere." (9:34:46 PM) Birds: "Artifact weapons should go through wood like a hot knife through butter. Unless, of course, there's an Abyssal on board. In that case, I shouldn't be surprised if they could perfectly absorb anything you try to do to the ship." (9:35:13 PM) Shield: "In that case, of course, you just ignore that one ship and go elsewhere to blow shit up." (9:35:50 PM) Crowns: "And I know there's an Abyssal on board." (9:37:02 PM) ***Crowns mutters. Plans all over the place. Go to Yu-Shan, go to Skullstone, go to the harbor. (9:37:05 PM) Birds: "You're a Solar. You'll improvise." (9:37:57 PM) Crowns: "I do that a lot." (9:38:54 PM) ***Birds nods, continues marching. (9:40:00 PM) Shield: ((Remmon: Who's close by here and likely to be annoyed by the sudden loss of a trading partner / ally / whatever in Wallport?)) (9:40:15 PM) Shield: ((Aside from Whitewall.)) (9:40:36 PM) Silk: "Sorry I've been overly negative recently. I'm just... tired of this. Violet, having to run away from everything... Y'know, Lunars are supposed to /defend/ Creation, but right now we just seem to be causing disasters everywhere we go..." (9:40:50 PM) Remmon: The Blessed Isle, Shield (9:40:59 PM) Remmon: Right on the other side of the water and a major trade partner. (9:41:06 PM) Silk: "I'd love to take somewhere and go "Yeh, here we made an influence. A /good/ one. " (9:42:36 PM) Crowns: "We did in Wallport. Then Violet made a bad one. So now we figure out what to do to her." (9:43:58 PM) Shield: "So I know this is kind of a non-Solar/Lunar thing to do, but you guys are sneaky. What do you give your chances of influencing someone on the Blessed Isle to send over an army to help?" (9:44:06 PM) Birds: "After this, let's go annoy the Silver Prince. Put a Magma Kraken in his throne room." (9:44:30 PM) ***Shield is addressing mostly the non-Abyssals. (9:44:41 PM) Crowns: "Chances are high, but it would take some time. I'd have to figure out who has leverage while drawing even less attention than usual." (9:45:11 PM) Silk: "I'd sorta prefer to stay as far from the Isle as possible..." (9:45:14 PM) Shield: "No dragonbloods you happen to know well?" (9:45:32 PM) Crowns: "No. I've stayed off the Blessed Isle so far." (9:45:52 PM) Birds: "I think if they were going to send anyone, they would have sent them by now." (9:46:27 PM) Crowns: "The most effective thing I could do is probably to discredit whoever's proposing something /else/ than helping Wallport." (9:46:32 PM) Silk: "The only DBs we've met who haven't tried to kill us was that one guy in Paragon and then this group from Whitewall." (9:46:42 PM) Remmon: (What makes you think that? News does not travel across the world in days. It can take weeks, possibly even months before anyone of importance finds out about this siege) (9:46:44 PM) Birds: "They probably knew that Wallport is fallen an hour after the city surrendered. Infallible Messengers are fast." (9:47:22 PM) Silk: "Assuming messages got out." (9:47:26 PM) Birds: "Not that I think they'd be at all enthusiastic to venture to the North again, so soon after the Tepet Campaign." (9:47:26 PM) Shield: "Do you know this spell?" (9:47:34 PM) Silk: "..." (9:47:37 PM) Birds: "No." (9:47:40 PM) Silk: "The what Campaign?" (9:48:32 PM) Birds: "The short version: House Tepet sent their legions to the North to kick the Bull of the North's head in. They got decimated instead." (9:49:01 PM) Birds: "I wonder how House Tepet is doing nowadays. They probably lost like half their Exalted in that campaign." (9:49:11 PM) Shield: "Good times. I should sit down with the Bull for a beer one of these days." (9:50:23 PM) Crowns: "So what's the Bull of the North doing now?" (9:50:28 PM) Crowns: "Any reason he wouldn't help?" (9:50:34 PM) ***Shield checks with their dragonbloods to see if anyone there knows Infallible Messenger, and whether they have sent those to the Realm. (9:51:17 PM) Birds: "Probably conquesting to the east of here." (9:51:38 PM) Birds: "Or maybe invading the Isle by now." (9:52:36 PM) Crowns: "Can't hurt to ask." (9:53:55 PM) Birds: "Let's put down asking the Bull for help as plan B if plan A fails." (9:54:19 PM) Shield: "In that case we'll need to have a good exit strategy for plan A." (9:54:34 PM) Crowns: "Which one is plan A and which one is plan C of asking Yu-Shan for help and invading Skullstone?" (9:54:55 PM) Shield: "This time, we might want to keep you zooming around outside fighting range in a stormwind and pick us up when it's time to go." (9:54:55 PM) Birds: "Plan A is beating Violet in direct warfare." (9:55:37 PM) Shield: "This is more plausible than it used to be, at least, since Crowns can feed me motes." (9:56:40 PM) Birds: "Actually, I'm going to be fighting as well. Exalted archery does not know anything such as 'fighting range'." (9:57:00 PM) Birds: "In a military unit, doing a called shot on me is going to be a little bit harder." (9:57:03 PM) Crowns: "All right. Do we want demons helping again?" (9:57:24 PM) Shield: "We want an army this time around, at least." (9:57:30 PM) Shield: "And a second circle demon would be cool." (9:57:47 PM) Shield: "Particularly one who is equipped to be a commander in its own right." (9:57:52 PM) Birds: "Keep in mind that I did not say I can bind a Second Circle Demon." (9:58:04 PM) Shield: "What's the problem?" (9:58:41 PM) Birds: "The contest of wills is something I will probably lose against a Second Circle Demon." (9:59:06 PM) Birds: "The chance that I can't banish after failure is small, though." (9:59:25 PM) Birds: "I could attempt to summon Octavian, for example, attempting thrice." (9:59:33 PM) Crowns: "Who's Octavian?" (9:59:56 PM) Shield: "A contest of wills against something that can squash you like a bug? Sounds like something I could help you with, if only because it's scary." (10:00:04 PM) Birds: "The Living Tower. A Second Circle Demon general with imperial ambitions." (10:00:13 PM) Shield: ((Go go HEP justifications.) (10:00:44 PM) Crowns: "Doesn't Shield make Octavian sort of redundant? Or does Octavian arrive with his personal army?" (10:01:26 PM) Birds: "He comes bundled with an agata steed." (10:01:32 PM) Shield: "Two units fighting under strong commanders can outperform a single slightly stronger one." (10:02:00 PM) Birds: "We could also summon up a bunch of Erymanthoi to help us with the unit problem." (10:02:27 PM) Shield: "The ten-man demons?" (10:02:35 PM) Birds: "The Blood Apes." (10:03:11 PM) Shield: "Ah, those fellas. You can summon one a day, or?" (10:03:45 PM) Birds: "Yes. But both myself and Crowns know the spell." (10:04:48 PM) Shield: "This is enough for something that can be called a military unit by the time we arrive. And if I order them around a bit while we march, that should convince the dragonblooded to let me have theirs without having to get extremely persuasive." (10:06:35 PM) Remmon: Shield, if you get like 20 Erymanthoi, I won't need humans in your unit (10:06:42 PM) Remmon: You'll be mag 2, might 2 or 3 easily (10:07:16 PM) Shield: Remmon: What's the magnitude of the army we're marching alongside? (10:07:58 PM) Remmon: The total size of the army is mag 8 (10:08:29 PM) Remmon: 12 mag 4 to 5 units (10:08:42 PM) Birds: "Alternatively, we could summon Baidaks. Those are automaton demons. Worse than Blood Apes in combat aptitude, but fearless." (10:09:27 PM) Shield: Remmon: And they're all led by guys with something like War 5? (10:09:37 PM) Remmon: War 4 and 5, yes (10:09:43 PM) Remmon: They're all DBs (10:09:56 PM) Shield: Oh god mass mass combat. (10:12:32 PM) Birds: (Yeah, let's go with Baidaks, who have a published mass combat statblock.) (10:12:50 PM) Birds: (Assuming that Crowns can replenish my essence, we can summon 2 per day.) (10:13:13 PM) Remmon: So 20 Baidaks by the time you reach Wallport (10:13:20 PM) Shield: (On another note I'm getting a bit tired. Is PLANS PLANS PLANS a good place to end things?) (10:13:29 PM) Birds: (NEVER.) (10:13:38 PM) Remmon: (Yes, because you can continue planning at other times as well :p) (10:13:47 PM) Shield: We'll also summon Octavian for lulz before Wallport I think. :p (10:14:10 PM) Birds: Remmon: Do we need to roll for the 1CDs? (10:14:24 PM) Remmon: How many dice would they get? (10:14:39 PM) Crowns: 12. (10:15:03 PM) Birds: 12 dice, I can smack that down to 5. (10:15:08 PM) Birds: I have 12 dice myself. (10:15:24 PM) Birds: You, Crowns? (10:15:26 PM) Remmon: Yeah, no need to roll that. (10:15:30 PM) Crowns: I can smack them down to 5 too by spending extra motes. (10:15:54 PM) Remmon: Okies (10:16:22 PM) Birds: Right. So let's try to summon Octavian with Shield activating HEP to help me. (10:16:30 PM) Remmon: Okies (10:16:48 PM) Crowns: ((Oh dear. Are you sure you want Octavian and not, say, Sigereth?)) (10:16:48 PM) Birds: Do I need to spend a Valor channel for each roll, or just one? (10:17:44 PM) Birds: Sigereth, then, since he has a good statblock. (10:19:16 PM) Shield: Does he have good War? (10:19:20 PM) Birds: 8. (10:19:28 PM) Shield: And Octavian? (10:19:41 PM) Birds: 6. (10:19:52 PM) Crowns: Sigereth also has First Excellency, Second Excellency, Third Excellency, Infinite Mastery and Divine Subordination for War. (10:19:58 PM) Shield: Cool. (10:20:37 PM) Shield: What's your Valor these days, Birds? (10:21:34 PM) Remmon: Sigereth can lead and army, but shouldn't lead a unit (10:21:43 PM) Remmon: Since she has no melee skills or charms (10:21:49 PM) Remmon: *lead an army (10:22:01 PM) Birds: My Valor is four. (10:22:03 PM) Remmon: Birds, Valor channel per roll, I'd say (10:22:11 PM) Birds: Okay, back to Octavian, since he has a PD. :P (10:22:22 PM) Crowns: Get both of them. :P (10:22:33 PM) Birds: http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Octavian_(Revised) <- The revised statblock, if you lost it. (10:22:38 PM) Remmon: Well, Sigereth is no doubt a better tactician then any of the human or dragonblooded in the White Wall army (10:22:46 PM) Remmon: And in a large encounter like this, that will be usefull (10:23:30 PM) Birds: I'll try Octavian first. If I have retries left, I'm going to try Sigereth too. (10:23:45 PM) Shield: Remmon: Since we're probably ending soon, do you mind if I do some training for something I'll specify sometime before the next session while we march? (10:23:54 PM) Remmon: Go ahead (10:24:01 PM) Shield: Also, did the DBs send word to the Realm? (10:24:14 PM) Shield: I was asking about this earlier but I think it got lost in the chatter. (10:24:15 PM) Remmon: Ask them? (10:24:45 PM) ***Shield asks them while PLANS PLANS PLANS are being made. (10:24:58 PM) ***Silk makes enquiries with Shield (10:25:12 PM) Shield: ((Yay, Silk can be convincing at them)) (10:25:16 PM) Birds: Alright. I have 12 dice, with 4 autosux if I channel on a particular roll. Octavian has 17 dice, I smack that down to 15. (10:26:00 PM) Shield: Stunt hard! (10:26:13 PM) Crowns: Use a masterwork summoning circle! (10:26:28 PM) Shield: Yes, we can get summoning shit from Whitewall while marching! (10:26:40 PM) Shield: Or any other conveniently nearby city. (10:26:54 PM) Crowns: Alternatively, summon a marotte first and have it make one. (10:27:11 PM) Shield: Why not. (10:27:14 PM) Crowns: On that note, we'd better call in the sesseljae and whatnot that we left behind on entering Whitewall. (10:27:19 PM) Remmon: Indeed, summon a Marotte, have it make a summoning circle (10:27:29 PM) Shield: How much + is a summoning circle? (10:27:33 PM) Crowns: SilentWillow: Did you get a sesselja earlier? If not, do you want one? (10:27:54 PM) Crowns: Shield: 1 die generic, specific ingredients can get you another die against a specific demon (or type of demon in the case of first circles). (10:27:57 PM) Birds: Okay, one marrote to make a circle. (10:28:24 PM) Shield: Crowns: Are these really hard to find? We are summoning someone very specific and we have a schmoozer and a stormwinder on call. (10:28:34 PM) Crowns: I don't know. (10:28:41 PM) ***Birds , during the first night of the full moon, has the previously-summoned marrote draw a summoning circle spanning the breadth of the Holy Road, after the army has passed. She chants a ritualized retelling of the outcome of the Primordial War and calls upon Octavian to heed the summons, as determined by their surrender oaths. (10:29:41 PM) Remmon: Stunt 2 (10:29:55 PM) Shield: Remmon: Can we has a two-dice bonus after we pick up specific thingies with Crowns' schmoozing skills? (10:30:48 PM) Birds: !exalted 15 7 1 4: Channeling #1 (10:30:49 PM) PainBot: Birds rolled "Channeling #1": (1 4 9 3 6 5 3 6 10 3 2 1 1 6 5). Successes (TN 7) +4 = 7. (10:31:53 PM) ***Silk helps Shield with his enquiries by being pretty at his side :p (10:32:43 PM) SilentWillow: Crowns: I didn't, and I'll need to look up their stats before I decide (10:33:08 PM) Remmon: With a crash of thunder from clear sky, Octavian, the tower appears in front of you. (10:33:34 PM) Remmon: !exalted 15: I am Octavian, I shall not be bound! (10:33:34 PM) PainBot: Remmon rolled "I am Octavian, I shall not be bound!": (7 2 2 1 10 6 7 4 8 6 9 7 1 4 3). Successes (TN 7) = 7. (10:33:40 PM) Birds: !exalted 15 7 1 4: Channeling #2 (10:33:40 PM) PainBot: Birds rolled "Channeling #2": (10 7 9 9 2 9 8 2 4 4 1 1 10 8 3). Successes (TN 7) +4 = 14. (10:33:46 PM) Remmon: !exalted 15: I am Octavian, I shall not be bound! (10:33:47 PM) PainBot: Remmon rolled "I am Octavian, I shall not be bound!": (2 3 5 7 7 2 5 6 1 8 8 2 10 3 10). Successes (TN 7) = 8. (10:34:02 PM) Remmon: Octavian is bound (10:34:16 PM) ***Birds binds Octavian for a year and a day. (10:36:04 PM) ***Birds bids Octavian to start practicing with the partially-completed Baidak Corps on the way to Wallport. (10:36:47 PM) Remmon: Octavian is not pleased, but obeys your commands to the word. (10:37:45 PM) ***Birds looks very pleased. (10:38:03 PM) Shield: "Nice work, Birds." (10:38:10 PM) Birds: "Thank you." (10:38:19 PM) Crowns: "How much leeway are you going to give him in the assault?" (10:39:04 PM) Birds: "Not much. Octavian resents being ordered about." (10:39:31 PM) Crowns: "Wait, what?" (10:39:42 PM) Shield: "Is that going to get you in trouble a year and a day hence?" (10:40:38 PM) Silk: "Huh. Don't suppose we're allowed to talk to him? Or can he only speak Old Realm?" (10:40:40 PM) ***Birds statement is fact. She just doesn't care about Octavian's feelings. (10:40:45 PM) Birds: +' (10:41:14 PM) Birds: "He might speak other languages, but Old Realm is a given." (10:41:42 PM) Birds: "A year and a day hence, he's going back to Malfeas. No problem for us." (10:41:43 PM) Crowns: "Ask him what else he speaks?" (10:41:48 PM) Shield: "Can you make him subordinate to me as well once we engage Violet?" (10:41:59 PM) Shield: "I speak Old Realm, that's not a problem." (10:42:03 PM) Birds: "Sure." (10:42:05 PM) Crowns: "It might be worth knowing if he can communicate with any other units usefully." (10:42:34 PM) ***Birds asks and is probably informed that Octavian can speak Riverspeak as well as Old Realm. (10:42:42 PM) Shield: "Were you going to summon any other second circle demons?" (10:42:56 PM) Crowns: "Get one that can hunt down Violet after she runs away." (10:43:08 PM) Crowns: "Or maybe one that we can rely on to autonomously go and mess up Skullstone." (10:43:09 PM) ***Remmon checks (10:43:12 PM) Remmon: Indeed, Birds (10:43:54 PM) ***Silk doesn't talk Riverspeak. Buggery. Anyone Want to translate as she interviews him? :-D (10:43:54 PM) Birds: "I could get the overlady of the Baidaks, Sigereth. She might be useful if we can can get to parlay with Violet." (10:44:16 PM) Crowns: I'll translate. (10:44:20 PM) Crowns: What could possibly go wrong? :D (10:44:26 PM) Shield: "Is she a particularly good negotiator?" (10:44:27 PM) Silk: Heh (10:44:38 PM) Birds: "Not exactly. In addition to being a master of war - and every other game - she can enforce the outcome of bets." (10:44:47 PM) Crowns: (I'm still missing Firetongue from my languages, meh.) (10:44:55 PM) Shield: "You mean like those of the Eclipse caste?" (10:45:14 PM) Silk: (Silk: So, tell me, what's it like, being a second circle demon?) (10:45:38 PM) Shield: (Silk is our shrink?) (10:45:42 PM) Silk: (Crowns: (Old Realm) She say you smell horrible. And are ugly.) (10:45:43 PM) Birds: "Something like that. Given that Violet wants to bring me back for the Silver Prince, she might be willing to take up a game for my, hm, ownership." (10:46:11 PM) Silk: (Well, I think I require medicine to function as a shrink.) (10:46:27 PM) Crowns: Bah. Things can go perfectly wrong by themselves without me messing in the translation. (10:47:00 PM) Birds: "She must have some occult training, given that she's a sorceress, but whether it is sufficient to know the exact details of what it means to bet with Sigereth, I don't know." (10:47:05 PM) Remmon: Right. Are you going to summon another 2nd circle demon? (10:48:09 PM) Shield: ((On the second day of Christmas, Malfeas sent to me, two second circle demons...)) (10:48:17 PM) ***Birds has the marrote make another circle, one day later, and proceeds with the summoning of Sigereth. She cites the rules of the 'summoning game' - Sigereth must come, and pit not her wits, but her will against the summoner, in accordance with the pacts sworn by the Yozis. (10:48:40 PM) Birds: (Christmas? You mean Calibration? :P) (10:49:38 PM) Shield: (Uh, yeah.) (10:50:08 PM) Remmon: A small dark coloured young man steps out of thin air in front of you, holding a small box (10:50:16 PM) Birds: Silk: You might note the shriveled head Octavian wears at his belt. That's a Solar's head. (10:50:33 PM) Birds: (Stunt?) (10:50:41 PM) Remmon: "Who summons Sigereth, the player of games?" (10:50:45 PM) Remmon: Stunt 2, Birds. (10:51:03 PM) Birds: "The Black Bird Whose Ashes Turn To Blood." (10:51:16 PM) Birds: !exalted 15 7 1 4: Channel #3 (10:51:17 PM) PainBot: Birds rolled "Channel #3": (1 8 6 5 7 9 9 5 9 3 6 4 2 10 6). Successes (TN 7) +4 = 11. (10:51:49 PM) Remmon: !exalted 14: I shall not be bound! (10:51:49 PM) PainBot: Remmon rolled "I shall not be bound!": (3 4 1 4 4 1 2 1 5 1 2 9 1 2). Successes (TN 7) = 1. (10:51:57 PM) Remmon: Okay... The bot had other things to say about that (10:52:43 PM) ***Birds binds Sigereth for a year and a day. "For the next few weeks, you will be fulfilling an advisory role in the retaking of Wallport from the forces of the Silver Prince." (10:53:31 PM) Silk: "That's... a... nice belt. Nice. Very fashionable. Umm..." (10:54:09 PM) Silk: "Uh... /Whose/ head is that?" (10:54:16 PM) Silk: "Out of curiosity?" (10:55:01 PM) Crowns: I noted that I'm translating for those two. (10:55:25 PM) Remmon: "Hmm, Oh, he opposed me. So I ripped his head off." (10:55:37 PM) Silk: "No idea who it was then?" (10:56:21 PM) Shield: "Nice, another one bound. Any further ones you think you should bind?" (10:56:31 PM) ***Shield directs this, of course, to Birds. (10:56:56 PM) Remmon: "Oh, he must have said his name. Alas, I was too busy killing him to bother recalling the details." (10:57:08 PM) Remmon: "He talked too much and didn't punch enough." (10:57:40 PM) Silk: "That can be the case. Some Exalts have names that mortals can't say in one breath, I know that" (10:57:42 PM) Birds: "Not really. I think we have everyone we need." (10:57:51 PM) ***Birds is almost out of Valor channels. (10:58:24 PM) Birds: !exalted 4 7 11: Convictions (10:58:24 PM) PainBot: Birds rolled "Convictions": (9 9 8 5; 6 9 5 2; 8 1 6 9; 2 10 9 4; 4 1 6 7; 6 7 7 9; 5 1 8 8; 10 4 2 4; 9 7 2 9; 6 6 4 10; 8 5 1 6). Successes (TN 7) = 3; 1; 2; 3; 1; 3; 2; 2; 3; 2; 1. (10:58:55 PM) Silk: "I suppose those who need to really should have a shorter name that they can use in those situations." (10:58:59 PM) Crowns: Let me just see if I've got the overview of our plans correct... (10:59:17 PM) Remmon: Right. We shall end here. Review your plans and try not to get yourselves killed :p (10:59:47 PM) Crowns: 1) Summon Baidak horde, 2) summon Octavian to lead in combat, 3) summon Sigereth to advise in war plans, 4) send Crowns and Willow to hole and burn ships (10:59:49 PM) Crowns: What else? (11:00:05 PM) Silk: "Because really, Saying "Behold, it is I, Golden Punchfist of the Northerly Omnipowerd Solar Smashy Fist of Doom the Twenty Third" Or something's just /asking/ to get your head punched off. (11:00:16 PM) Shield: 5) Figure out how to catch Violet if she tries to escape 6) Killdudes. (11:00:41 PM) SilentWillow: If any forces try and get to land before we can sink their ship, I'll do my best to hold them at the docks (11:00:43 PM) Birds: 5.5) Get Sigereth's advice on how best to retake Wallport, within a set of constraints. (11:01:11 PM) Shield: Remmon: Did we get any of that exp stuff? (11:01:30 PM) Remmon: 4xp to all